


Fundamentals of Silvally

by cteranodon



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Gen, Science, Scientific Journalism, Zoology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 19:15:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10040903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cteranodon/pseuds/cteranodon
Summary: The new president of the Aether Foundation submits the first official report on the newly discovered Pokémon species, Silvally.





	

## A. Introduction

 **  
** Recently, the existence of the Pokémon known as Type: Null was revealed to the world. I suggest reading the documentation on this species if you have not already, but here’s a summary. Type: Null is a synthetic Pokémon that was designed by the Aether Foundation to defeat the beings known as Ultra Beasts. There were three individuals created, originally called “Type: Full” and fitted with an RKS System that allowed them to change their fundamental types. However, they proved uncontrollable for Aether scientists, and the project was shut down after the individual Type: Null had control masks fused to them and were later put into stasis (1).

The full documentation has been made public since I was appointed as the new president of the Aether Foundation.

When I left the Aether Foundation several years ago, I took one of the three Type: Null with me. That Pokémon has since evolved, breaking free of the control mask and re-activating the RKS System, enabling a conditional change to any Type.

I have called this new Pokémon Silvally.

Of the other two Type: Null, one remains under the care of the Aether Foundation, and the other has been adopted by a trusted colleague (2). So, for the foreseeable future, I’m the only person even remotely qualified to share findings on the newly discovered Silvally. I’m sure the scientific community will excuse my not following the established standards of the field. I didn’t set out to become the foremost authority on a new species of Pokémon.

(1: This was the worst and most unforgivable decision of the entire project.

2: Trusted, but not capable of writing something that even looks like a scientific journal, as far as I can tell. Not very talkative, so I can’t be sure. They have better things to do, anyway.)  
  


## B. Evolution’s Effects

Type: Null was on international news when I released the details on it (3), so I’m going to guess everyone has at least seen it (4). A good starting place, then, is to talk about how evolution has changed Silvally (5).

First, the obvious: the Pokémon has cast off their restrictive mask, revealing their face and re-opening access to the RKS System (see section C). Along with this, the subject has superior battle potential, including nearly doubled maneuverability and the use of a move we’ve called Multi-Attack.

It’s clear, though, that this is an evolution of Type: Null, and not just the Pokémon as they were without the mask. The most superficially obvious evidence is the Pokémon’s front-end fur, which is lighter and has now achieved a reflective sheen that Type: Null never had. Furthermore, Silvally’s rear tail fin is now mostly transparent, and their eyes have changed almost entirely.

The biggest difference is in Silvally’s behavior. Even wearing the restrictive mask and under the watch of a diligent trainer, Null was prone to the violent rage that was the reason for their abandonment. Their power to go on these rampages was remarkably subdued, but their intention was clear.

The evolved Silvally, however, has shown something different. Even though Silvally continues to be reckless and emotional, they trust their trainer to tell them when to act, and how. Silvally is characterized by obedience and reliability as long as the one giving the orders is the human they’ve bonded with – to such a great extent that Aether would be considering reviving the Beast Killer project if the Ultra Beasts were still a threat.

(3: I’m told this was a bad business move, but in a tone that implies I am expected to care.

4: If you haven’t… you’re probably beyond my help.

5: I plan to release detailed and close-up pictures of Silvally once I can convince them that taking those pictures isn’t an invasion of their privacy.)  
  


## C. RKS System

As has been noted in the documentation for Type: Null, the Pokémon was constructed with genetic material characterizing each known Type, and with a system to awaken a single Type at a time. This is designated the RKS System. It was locked by the mask worn by Type: Null, which means that it has been unlocked for Silvally.

A memory disc was created for each Type (6), and an active disc awakens Silvally’s relevant memories and turns them to that type. This also changes the Type of Silvally’s Multi-Attack move.

This gives Silvally extreme flexibility for battling purposes (7). It also brings up two topics worth talking about in detail.

First: Silvally doesn’t show any change in attitude when different memory discs are active, as far as I can tell. Even so, I wonder how all of these memories, dormant or active, affect Silvally psychologically. Do they hear voices of long-gone Pokémon, or feel the results of battles they never participated in? Are the latent memories what motivated the rage of Type: Null before the Pokémon knew how to handle or react to them? Does the evolution into Silvally signify the mastery of deadly internal chaos? Has Silvally conquered a mountain whose shadow humanity has never even seen?

Secondly, Silvally’s eyes, dorsal spikes, and central scales of the tailfin all change color to correspond with the active Type, and it’s the neatest thing.

I’ve had it pointed out to me that it’s widely believed the mythical Pokémon Arceus has a similar ability. However, controlled scientific study on Arceus has not been carried out (8), and I would have logistical concerns about any attempt (9), so Silvally is the best possible subject for understanding rapid Type changes.

(6: Except for Normal, which is Silvally’s type when no memory is active.

7: Useful for defeating Ultra Beasts, but also for when you keep running into your local Champion.

8: This seems to be a euphemism for “we haven’t figured out for sure whether or not Arceus actually exists.”

9: Will anybody volunteer to analyze what we can all assume to be a massive, unpredictable, and boundlessly powerful Pokémon? I don’t think so.)

##    
D. Naming

I’ve been requested to include documentation about why I chose “Silvally” as the name for a newly discovered species.

First, I want to say that I didn’t name the species “Type: Full” as some might have chosen, and I didn’t name it after any local flora, either (10).

“Silvally” is derived from “Silver” (the color of the Pokémon’s fur) and “Ally” (see section E).

Silvally liked the name, which was by far the most important measure of the name’s correctness (11).

(10: I honestly believe I’m not getting enough credit for this.

11: Thankfully, science isn’t a democracy anyway.)

##    
E. Process of Evolution

  
Two years ago, I escaped the Aether Foundation with a Type: Null and a pile of money. I had never wandered far from my mother (12), literally or metaphorically. Suddenly, it was just me and Null, alone in the world, against the world.

I was trying to escape a horrible environment, where I was being used as a tool. I saw an opportunity to save Null, who was being used as a tool in eerily similar ways, before being discarded (13). I had the chance to help someone cut from the same cloth as me.

What followed was two years of every day being a struggle. We were free, but I was a child trying to handle a Pokémon that had been put on ice for being too dangerous. It wasn’t long before I started working for a local gang to keep the two of us fed. Every day was a perilous fight for my own life, and for Null’s.

The thing is, that’s all what I was telling myself at first. I was saving this fellow because they needed my help. Because I _could_. This was my doing, and my responsibility.

It turned out very differently. I didn’t just save Null. Null saved me.

I had a partner in Null who was dangerous, and unpredictable, but who I could see before long was fighting every day to get better. They were trying to improve for my sake, so that I could sustain this new life of ours. Null had turned from a monster to a family member long before evolving into Silvally.

Seeing everything Null was trying to accomplish for me wasn’t just the main reason I kept fighting. It was the only thing that kept me alive, some days.

This came to a head when Null and I faced down an Ultra Beast known as Nihilego. Nihilego was also the beast responsible for taking my father from this world. I was terrified of it. For a moment, that showdown was when I believed my inheritance would be my fall to Nihilego.

Instead, that showdown was the tipping point for Null’s evolution into Silvally. It was only by facing possibly my worst enemy together with Null that Null was able to evolve.

After the fact, our current understanding of Silvally’s evolution is that the evolution can only take place when a profound bond is formed between Type: Null and a human.

It feels almost cruel. We humans are the ones who mistreated and spurned the Type: Null, then restricted them to those shackles. They can’t free themselves until they find a human who they can care for unerringly, and who has placed trust in them.

If I were such a creature, growing to trust a human would be an impossible task.

Silvally, a being treated with nothing but brutality, can only be awakened when met with the compassion they’ve never known.

(12: The previous president of the Aether Foundation.

13: Discarded in a way that I sensed I would be discarded, too, and very soon.)

##    
F. Conclusion

The world at large has already deemed Silvally an abomination. That’s what I’ve seen everywhere I’ve looked.

 It doesn’t matter how many people come to Aether with pitchforks in hand. Silvally’s life isn’t a democracy, either.

All you’re doing by saying these things about them is spreading pain. My experiences with them should say all that needs to be said. Silvally may be something most people aren’t accustomed to, but they’re still a living being, and one I depend on.

If you continue to spread this message, you hold no clout with me. If I tried to listen to that kind of thing, my heart would break every day.

Silvally would protect me with their life. So it’s only logical that I’ll protect Silvally with everything I have.

There’s one more thing I want to say, to the people who I know for a fact will be reading this report.

It’s inevitable that there will be more synthetic Pokémon created in the future. Our own lab that created Type: Null had documents on the Porygon, Castform, and Mewtwo projects; so it’s also inevitable that Aether’s reports on Type: Null and Silvally will be used as further research materials in future projects.

I want to state plainly for these projects: the Beast Killer initiative may have been a failure, but Silvally is exactly the oppoite.

The common denominator of success is this: Porygon, Castform, and Silvally all had people who were invested in their success not as projects, but as individuals worthy of care. Mewtwo and Type: Null were never afforded that, and we’ve seen the results.

It was my personal privilege to help Silvally achieve actualization. You won’t regret doing the same (14).

(14: And if you do, bring the subject to Aether. I’ll take care of it myself.)

**Author's Note:**

> I saw art on tumblr of Gladion reading a book trying to understand Silvally, and thought 'Gladion would be the one who'd have to WRITE a book like that.' So that sort of got the wheels turning to writing this fic.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed! Let me know what you think!! ^_^


End file.
